What is the 2024 Season Recipe for Success

#26
#26
Swiftybaby said:
Score more points than the other team. I kid I kid. It all starts up front as cliche as that sounds. Hopefully we get some guys back and some of the younger kids develop. If Nico is as good as advertised and has a couple seconds to throw I think we’ll be fine. We need a Hyatt type home run threat. I think Thornton can be that guy. He was starting to come along then got hurt.
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Is this Foreigner? Double Vision of posting? 17 minutes separate the same post...the same post
 
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#27
#27
Some areas I believe we must address in order to improve:
1) Penalties. We were the most penalized team in the SEC and only 2 teams in the country had more penalties. We averaged 8.2 penalties per game for 98 yards per game. Far too often the offense had first and 15 or first and 20 and it just killed the drive. And we also helped the other team's offense out too many times. The staff needs to analyze the data and have reducing penalties on both sides of the ball as a priority for next season.
2) Fourth down conversions. We were 12th in the conference (only Vandy and Kentucky were worse) and ranked 122nd in the nation. Part of the issue is coaching and I understand Heupel's aggressive approach but I'm a little more old school. I still think going for it on 4th needs to have an element of surprise. Too many times we went on 4th and short and the other team just loaded the box and stuffed our run (Florida game comes to mind). One thing that makes our run game effective is wide spreads that force the defense to spread out - but teams don't do that on fourth and short and our average OL gets exposed as average. We went for it 16 times and converted 5. The staff needs to study each attempt and develop a better strategy for next season. If people stuff the box, we need a sure handed receiver (or two) who can muscle off the defense and just make the 2-yard throw on 4th down.
3) Sustaining drives. The first two are major factors in sustaining drives but we also made some - in my opinion - poor decisions that hampered our ability to keep moving the chains. Joe is who he is, and I'll not beat a dead horse, but use will his decision making as an example. Philosophically, you have to try to win each play vs trying to win the game on each play. First, while Joe did improve some over the course of the season, far too often he held the ball trying to throw down field for a big gain when he had an easy 4–5-yard gain by running. He reminded me of JG when he would do that. On 1st or 2nd down, you got to take those yards. Not only is it a good gain, but it also lets the D know they can't keep dropping so deep and doubling your receivers. Second, you can't always throw deep. I know everyone loves the bomb but coming back for a second and 10 makes the drive tougher to sustain. And we didn't really have anyone who could consistently get behind the D (like Hyatt) this last year. And again, if you beat 'em underneath enough they will be more vulnerable to the deep ball. In the area of sustain drives, I'm hopeful Nico will develop into the kind of QB (like Hooker and Dobbs) who makes good decisions to win each play.
 
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#28
#28
cherokeeeVOL said:
We’ll most likely be an 8-9 win team again next year IMO provided Coop, Mincey and Spraggins elect to stay. We don’t have the depth yet to contend for the playoff.
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I mean we were literally on the verge of being a top 12 team this year but we wet the bed @ The Swamp and @ COMO. We didn't lose either of those games because of depth.
 
#29
#29
Vol4gzus said:
Is this Foreigner? Double Vision of posting? 17 minutes separate the same post...the same post
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Don’t know what happened there. Thought I had posted them reopened the page and it was still in the queue. Went a little hay wire. So nice I had to post it twice
 
#30
#30
901 Orange said:
I mean we were literally on the verge of being a top 12 team this year but we wet the bed @ The Swamp and @ COMO. We didn't lose either of those games because of depth.
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Missouri was just a superior team this year and they were definitely motivated after two blow out losses to us. We didn't play well in Florida but were the better team IMO but on any given day...
 
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#31
#31
volfan102455 said:
You do realize the 12 selected may not align to the CFP top 12. The four highest ranked P5 conference champs get byes. The highest ranked among the non P5 conferences is in. While they don't say it, if there are 5 P5 conferences, then the fifth highest is in - they just don't get a bye. That is 6 spots. Then the fun begins. You can bet the second place SEC and B1G team is in. That leaves 4 spots to be filled with (1) second place from the other conferences, (2) other non P5 teams and (3) schools 3rd or lower from the conferences.

I think the SEC can expect 3, 4 or 5 is pushing it.
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This is why I think it was so important this year to have the debate is it the prettiest record or best teams via SOS and more importantly SOR.

Next year there might be several SEC teams that are 8-4 that are better than 9-3 Penn state or 10-2 ACC team that doesn't win the ACC CG For example….
 
#32
#32
pimo1 said:
Actually, all the big 3 conferences are in a similar situation come next year. The SEC will be the strongest still but the ACC and BIG10 both become a lot more competitive with probably 15-20 of the preseason top 25 coming from those conferences. Gone are the days of BIG 10 and ACC teams having cakewalk schedules. This will likely open up spots to non power3 schools to slide in like the Big12 which becomes the new pac-12 lol. It's gonna be really hard for more than two teams to come out of either of the SEC, ACC, BIG10 to come out with less than 2 losses. There will be some 3-4 loss teams in the playoffs and some teams from weaker conferences will slide in because of their easier schedules.

It will be really interesting how the pollsters adjust because the reality of how tough an SEC schedule is gonna come into clarity for a lot of these schools. Look at Iowa who made the championship game because the only team with a pulse they played last year was Penn State. Michigan only played OSU and Penn State regular season. OSU only played Michigan Penn State and ND. Penn State Played OSU, UM and Iowa. The rest of their schedules was a joke. Similar story for FSU (LSU and Duke). That will not be true going forward for those schools.

Also Knowing the playoffs are a thing is gonna change stakes for regular season games. Most teams check out once they get 1 or 2 losses. Because they know its over for a natty. Now every game matters even if you have 2-3 L's you're still in the hunt. 9 wins is the new 10 wins. Conference championship games become seeding games because chances are both participants in the Big 3 conf champs get in.
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Who did the ACC add that’s going to make their schedules more difficult? I think they are watering the ACC down.
 
#33
#33
Sarms58 said:
Missouri was just a superior team this year and they were definitely motivated after two blow out losses to us. We didn't play well in Florida but were the better team IMO but on any given day...
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I totally agree, I brought them up because that's what kept us from being a top 12 team this year. We are a probably a top 20 team going into next year. We get a couple bounces our way and the CFP isn't out of reach. Now we may go home in the first round but we could definitely get there
 
#34
#34
If we find one or two strong DLs in the portal, get Sprags/Mincey back and stay healthy on the OL, I believe we would have a shot to make it. Brutal schedule though especially for a new QB, but I believe in CJH.
 
#36
#36
modernVol said:
If we find one or two strong DLs in the portal, get Sprags/Mincey back and stay healthy on the OL, I believe we would have a shot to make it. Brutal schedule though especially for a new QB, but I believe in CJH.
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When I posted the original question when I started this thread, this was the type of answer I was looking forward to reading. I personally don't think we can get into the playoffs with the guys deciding to come back, the few juniors we have and the talented but inexperienced sophomore and freshmen on the roster. That said, my comments are based on my perception and opinion. I'm not second guessing the staff just looking for other opinions on the personnel recipe to get us there. I can't take the continual losing to Alabama. Georgia in my mind was a
shell of themselves from last year and if we were healthy this year that game and Mizzou game may not have been different outcome but would have been much more competitive.
 
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#38
#38
Go back to the aggressive play calling and fast tempo of 2022. Quit calling stupid conservative plays and trying to ram the ball up the middle when it’s not there. Play aggressively until the very last second whether winning or losing. Keep improving on defense and strive to increase 3rd down stops.
 
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#39
#39
Sarms58 said:
Missouri was just a superior team this year and they were definitely motivated after two blow out losses to us. We didn't play well in Florida but were the better team IMO but on any given day...
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I will never believe MO was a vastly superior team this year. They are who they are and I still don’t think they are a real SEC team. We just had a complete meltdown.
 
#41
#41
Volizona said:
I will never believe MO was a vastly superior team this year. They are who they are and I still don’t think they are a real SEC team. We just had a complete meltdown.
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Superior or not, they were the more physical team that day. That was the common denominator in all four of our loses; getting whipped in the trenches. This team wasn’t mentally or physically strong where it counted, especially on the road
 
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#45
#45
OrangeTsar said:
Superior or not, they were the more physical team that day. That was the common denominator in all four of our loses; getting whipped in the trenches. This team wasn’t mentally or physically strong where it counted, especially on the road
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Amen.

Florida, 2nd half Bama, UGA, and Missouri just ran it down their throat.

They just weren't physical enough on either side of the line of scrimmage in any of those games.

They get a pass on AL and GA IMO but the other two were unacceptable.

They have to get better on the O line and D line next season . Which may be difficult given the roster turnover.
 
#46
#46
Elevated QB play enabled by a strong O-line and an over-achieving WR group.

On defense, just need steady improvement.
 
#47
#47
Dadof2Vols said:
Who did the ACC add that’s going to make their schedules more difficult? I think they are watering the ACC down.
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Notre Dame (kinda they only play 5 ACC games a year), BC, Stanford, SMU and Cal
Only Notre Dame is a contender but the others are all decent teams.
Duke, UNC, Louisville, and even Wake Forest have been on an upward trend.
Is the ACC on the same level as SEC and BIG10 heck no.. but they are number 3. The Big 12 is 4th their best teams will be Utah, Houston, Oklahoma State and TCU and there will be no more PAC12. The best teams in BIg 12 joined SEC and the best in the PAC 12 joined ACC and BIG10. Big12 got what was left over from Pac12 implosion (only 2 schools Oregon State and Washington State) remain..

in summation, SEC got a bit more competitive with Texas, and Oklahoma.
BIG10 got immensely more competitive going from a 3 team conference to 6-7 legit teams. They still have the teams from the west though that always sucks.
ACC has a lot of decent teams I think they are the most balanced conference competitively. Their top 10 is not as good as the top of the SEC or Big10 but their bottom 10 is stronger than BIG10.
 
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#48
#48
Mator said:
I have to believe that we've got to make the 12 team playoff in 2024 for sustaining recruiting and trying to catch-up and keep up with Alabama and Georgia. Recruiting has to be the foundation for developing talent. In my mind, we have to be very selective in the portal for depth and key positions that bring balance to classes (example look at how thin our numbers are in the junior class). If we had normal level depth/talent there we wouldn't necessarily need 6th year players to stick around (COVID year is a huge blessing for us!). The hole left by Pruitt is a mountain to overcome for any school but is amplified by the bar we are trying to reach set by schools listed above.

All that said, what is the recipe for us to get into the 12 team playoff in 2024? If we don't, in my opinion we easily remain outside of the top 12 in coming years. The SEC on a rare year might get 4 teams in the playoff; likely only 3.
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7-5 or 6-6 next season, another 8-4 record is also likely and probaly the best we can achieve. Our schedule is brutal we won’t qualify for the playoffs.
 
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#49
#49
DarkVolder said:
7-5 or 6-6 next season, another 8-4 record is also likely and probaly the best we can achieve. Our schedule is brutal we won’t qualify for the playoffs.
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I think that's realistic. The lack of depth and experience caused by the Pruitt debacle has left us in a huge hole. The timing couldn't be worse either. Every year going forward that we don't make the playoff, we will fall further behind. Recruits and top end portal guys want a stage, to win and NIL that goes with it.
 
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#50
#50
901 Orange said:
I mean we were literally on the verge of being a top 12 team this year but we wet the bed @ The Swamp and @ COMO. We didn't lose either of those games because of depth.
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We most certainly lost Florida due to lack of depth along the offensive line, specifically at the center position.
 
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